ICC Note: We applaud the Vatican ’s new more engaged stance with Islam and their calling their Muslim counterparts to task for the persecution of Christians. At the same time, we probably agree with this writer about the effect. Regardless of the effect, we all must stand up and say that Islam’s treatment of peoples of other beliefs is appalling and must end.

The Vatican Confronts Islam
Paul Hollrah

For the full story, go to The Conservative. In a recent column for JewishWorldReview, Daniel Pipes describes what he sees as a new, tougher, approach by the Vatican to the encroachment of Islam throughout the West, and the decline of Christian populations in Islamic states.

. . .Pipes may be onto something but Pipes should know better. As a recognized “neoconservative” scholar on Islam and the Middle East he should know that there is literally nothing that the Vatican can do – through a shift to a more confrontational approach toward Islam – that will in any way slow the march of Islam in the Christian world, or convince Muslims that they must allow Christians and other religious denominations the freedom to openly practice their religious beliefs in Islamic states.

Pipes’ bases his conclusions, in part, on comments by Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, Secretary of the Vatican Supreme Court. In a February 22 interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the Monsignor is quoted as saying, “Faced with the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, the West is closing its eyes as it did with Hitler.”

However, the Monsignor himself doubts that any real dialogue between Christians and Muslims can take place on reciprocal terms. He tells us, “Islam is closed to the point of not admitting reciprocity. Last Easter, (while) visiting ‘moderate’ Turkey , I had to say Mass at home without displaying Christian symbols. In Islamic countries, as soon as the church shows its true colors, it is immediately accused of proselytizing.

“Enough now with this turning the other cheek! It’s our duty to protect ourselves… The West has had relations with the Arab countries for half a century, mostly for oil, and has not been able to get the slightest concession on human rights.”

So what are the chances that the Vatican ’s new “get tough” policy will have any impact on Muslim intransigence? Since moderate and liberal Muslims are keeping their mouths shut, mostly out of fear that they and their families will be the next victims of the Jihadists, we have only the word of those Muslims who are willing to speak publicly.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, the radical head of al-Qaeda’s International Islamic Front (IIF) in London , has said, “We don’t make a distinction between civilians and non-civilians. Only between Muslims and non-believers (non-Muslims). And the life of a non-believer has no value. We assume (our) purpose is to kill as many people as possible, to spread the terror. Terror is the language of the 21^st century.”

One of his principal protégés, Anjem Choudary, Chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers in London , has said, “… England (doesn’t) belong to the English, or to any human inhabitants. It belongs to Allah, the whole world belongs to Allah.” And when asked about the killing of women and children. He said, “In Israel there are no civilians… Those people in the land are occupiers and aggressors and are part of the atrocities which, as far as we’re concerned, are as bad – if not worse – as Nazi Germany. As far as women are concerned, they are a part of the army.
By and large the operations are targeted at people who are part of the army, but invariably innocent people will be caught up in the explosions…” As a Christian man, I have always viewed women as the greatest of all of God’s creations. The human female can conceive and grow another living being within her own body; she can give birth to that living being and feed it from the milk of her breasts; and while she is capable of all such miracles of procreation, she is also capable of being a loving nurturer and the intellectual equal of her male partner. She is truly the greatest of all God’s creations – but not in the Muslim world. In the Muslim world the life of a woman is worth but a fraction of that of a man. Under Sharia law, no man can be convicted of rape or abuse on the testimony of a single victim, not even on the testimony of a female eye witness. They are a culture that treats its women no better than animals of the field.

If the Vatican really thinks that they can find “reciprocity” with such men they are engaging in some very dangerous wishful thinking.